Tid-Bit -- Did You Know on M. Jumeau?

LUMINOUS AND BODY OF THE JUMEAU DOLLDid You Know - 1. The eyes of Jumeau dolls were a beautiful feature, made of blown glass, deep and luminous. 2. There is no mistaking the eyes of a Jumeau doll for anything else and here can determine originality.3. Jumeau doll wigs were tacked to a cork fitted into a large opening in the head.4. That at first the wigs were made of the hair of the Tibetan goat, later mohair.5. M. Jumeau's fame as a dollmaker dates from 1844.6. M. Jumeau was then using German heads but dressing his dolls in handsome clothes.7. That M. Jumeau exhibited at the "Crystal Palace Exposition," in London in 1851, remarks on the beautiful clothes, but calls the dolls ordinary.8. At first head and shoulders were in one piece, andafter 1869Jumeau's eldest son invented a swivel neck, a decided improvement.9. That bodies on Jumeau dolls went through a long evolution and they were made in fourteen sizes.10. The earliest dolls were stuffed with sawdust inside jointed kid, the dollscould not stand up. Thus the jointed wood body was made with kid placed over it.11. M. Jumeauthen made a wooden and kid body with each joint and memberand the kid was shrunken on before assembling the dolls.12. In advancing the dolls, they were made of stockinet, cloth, and an all woodbody.13. A cotton body with leather arms was made for the less expensive Jumeau dolls until 1880 the bisque shoulder-head was used on all.14. Inthe year 1880, M. Jumeau's son invented a composition body first made in the Jumeau factory that was similar to modern dolls.15. These composition bodies were strung together with elastic cord and the shoulder was abandoned.16. Until these dolls appeared, the JUMEAUS WERE SELDOM MARKED EXCEPT IN UNUSUAL CASES.AND A FINAL TID BIT .... DID YOU KNOW17. In the transition of Jumeaus' body variations, there were transitional hands and feet; and the material present was depended on what was at hand. The facts indicates that the Jumeaus used leftovers from one body to finish the next until all was used up and finally,18. THE ONE CONSTANT FACTOR REMAINS IS THE BEAUTY OF THEEYES.***This Tid Bit data may give the Jumeau Doll collectors or beginners an eye opening on why some of the Jumeau dolls appears on different types of bodies, or why one hand may be bigger than the other or arms look different, or legs look different. But one thing is for sure the Jumeaus' doll eyes are brilliant. ***They used gas jet to make a circle to take it round the pupil to give the color of the eye. Then with a fine piece of white glass the small lines around the iris that produces the luminous eyes. With a new system thereafter, makes it possible to create the "human eye." In this way the stick of white glass instead of being made into a thread is now slightly twisted and this forms, when the rays are put into the iris, a multitude of small ramifications that imitate nature perfectly. ***Once the iris is made, white enamel is heated and applied into a mould for exact size and using special tools gouges out the middle where the pupil and iris are placed and finally it is crystalized to be un breakable andto bring in the brilliance like the natural eye.***But Did You Know,another inovoation by M. Jumeau created the "half spherical" eye. The pupil and iris are now made in exactly the same way, yet for the difference is the enamel is round instead of being oval, so that the "bebe" will be able to raise and lower its eyes.It is my desireforguide give you some insight when searching for Jumeaus, in that the key element will be the luminous eyes.Thank you.

---

Orignal From: Tid-Bit -- Did You Know on M. Jumeau?